The meaning of good design

[Murphyv310]

Hi
I particularly hate kettles with a sight glass. Virtually everyone has leaked in the sight glass area, some use a stupid polythene pipe that goes brittle and cracks or have a plastic window held on with plastic clips that again don't like hot water!
For years I had a Swan kettle with no sights or any such nonsense. One element in 25 years is better than a new kettle every four years!

[ppppenguin]

Never seen a problem with a kettle sight glass. Perhaps our ultra hard London water exerts a protective influence. Though it can bung up almost anythng else. Kettles in hard water areas need a bit of acid from time to time to keep them happy. Otherwise the element can develop hotspots leading to failure as well as longer boiling time.

I usually use HCl (as used to remove cement from bricks etc) diluted with equal amount of water. But don't boil the kettle with the acid in it. How do I know this

[Refugee]

Hi
I particularly hate kettles with a sight glass. Virtually everyone has leaked in the sight glass area, some use a stupid polythene pipe that goes brittle and cracks or have a plastic window held on with plastic clips that again don't like hot water!
For years I had a Swan kettle with no sights or any such nonsense. One element in 25 years is better than a new kettle every four years!

The fire cracker we had was given to me for free and replaced a Russell Hobbs steel one that leaked by a little dent in the edge.
It had a clear polystyrene segment in the side with "O" rings where the ends where it connected to the body and it just clipped into place. The plastic clips just got loose after a year or so and it started leaking.
I was asked to repair an earlier fixed cord example of the item some years before and that got a generous shot of smelly silicon mastic behind the sight glass and the leaking stopped. It was from the works canteen so I was officially allowed to fix it in work time.
I just make sure they have a welded in sight glass and have not had any further trouble with leaking from the glass area.

[pwdrive]

In my bad design book at the moment are mono block sink taps and sinks, the bit you normally see (above the sink) is fine but what the xxxxx is going on underneath, a stupid system with the ones I've come across.

We drink a lot of tea so it's no surprise to us that our kettles conk out from time to time, always seems to be the heating element, rightly or wrongly we refill the kettle with cold water almost immediately the kettle the has been emptied of boiling water, I wonder if that's bad practice, thermal shock maybe?

Lawrence.

[Murphyv310]

Hi.
Well I'm suffering with thermal shock right now, 3 degrees outside and not much warmer inside, the missus is at a certain age now

[pwdrive]

Cooler here too.

Lawrence.

[ianj]

I have an excellently designed can opener that was from Woolworths and is donkeys years old and getting worn. I'm not keen on some of the modern alternatives which look " faffy" to use through their design

[Paul_RK]

Hi
I particularly hate kettles with a sight glass...

So do I, though I've never owned one: because of leakage after quite short periods as you say (there are many, many reports of this from Amazon reviewers of various brands), and because the modern kettles I've met in use elsewhere have tended to be too darn noisy, and because I've a stubborn preference for living with a kettle that looks like a kettle... it might be argued I'm getting old if I hadn't always been this way.

The current incumbent here, with a Russell Hobbs K2 in retirement but ready for duty if and when needed, is a two litre Burco "commercial kettle", which has probably boiled ten or twelve times a day for the five years we've had it from new. The only design flaw that's concerned me at all, if it's indeed a matter of design and not availability, is that its black plastic parts don't like being raised repeatedly almost to the temperature of boiling water. The lid has a central knob which used to have a round plastic escutcheon at its base, which soon began to look nibbled at the edges and has now crumbled away completely, at least restoring a tidy appearance. More concerningly, the edges of the switch / thermostat housing (its overall style quite resembles the K2) show the same crumbling effect and shedding of black powder from where the moulding meets the body of the kettle.

Paul

[Yorkie]

Some years ago we were bought an Allesi cordless kettle as a present by our son and his wife – heap of junk – style over substance, and ludicrously overpriced. It failed just out of its two-year warranty, and as we didn’t want our son to know of that, we bought another of the same model to replace it, then blow me, the same thing happened just out of warranty. There's only the two of us - the kettle gets used maybe five times a day. 

Fed up with over-priced trash we replaced the Allesi with a Cuisinart cordless, which has a three-year guarantee and is a much better design, with a wider spout for filling.  It has a large graduated viewing window on each side of the kettle – handy for us, given that I’m left-handed and my wife right-handed, so whichever way the kettle is plonked down, the water level is visible. It’s 3KW so it boils quickly, and to my eyes, is more aesthetically pleasing. We’ve had the Cusinart kettle for three years now, and at £53.00, could buy three for the price of one Allesi, (which was designed in 1985, so is looking a bit dated now).

The Allessi is now £153 - £100 more than the Cusinart. (£100 for the Allesi brand name - £53.00 for the kettle?).

Here’s the review I placed on Amazon in June 2013 when the second Allesi went bang and tripped the mains:

QUOTE:

Alessi MG32 Wi/UK 1.5 Litre Cordless Electric Kettle (Kitchen & Home)

We were bought one of these overpriced kettles as a present by our son and his wife. It failed after a couple of years, and as we didn't want our son and daughter-in-law to be upset, we said nothing to them and bought an identical replacement. I was using my computer last night when my wife put the kettle on, and whoomph - the computer went off. All the downstairs power had tripped at the main consumer unit. Annoyingly, I lost about an hour's work on the computer. As I have electronics expertise I dismantled the kettle to see if - for example - it had tripped the power due to water ingress. No it hadn't - when I removed the panel on the underside of the kettle, everything was in order. I used a test meter to confirm that as I expected - the element on this one had blown, as did the earlier one - again having lasted a couple of years or so. (The base unit was fine and still lit up).

The gimmicky 'bird' spout is a useless ornament and a scalding hazard. The kettle shuts off when it boils, so the bird doesn't whistle as it would on a normal non-electric kettle, so on an electric one the bird is just a nuisance and best left off, otherwise, to pour the water you have to pull the bird out of the spout with a tea-towel or something, to avoid scalding your hands from steam. The 'bird' also discolours quite quickly.

In short, this attractive over-priced kettle is a classic example of 'style over substance'. (I know people who are like that - nice to look at, high maintenance, but not much use!). Read other reviews from people who - like us - have used these kettles over time and have found the same problem of blown heating elements, and if you do disregard these reviews, don't say you weren't warned!

UNQUOTE:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R5RM2JF2...mt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0007Z8GE0#wasThisHelpful

That model of Allesi kettle has now been replaced with a different model number. (Old wine in new bottles?) £153!!!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alessi-Electric-..._4?ie=UTF8&dpID=51TVj-FCQ5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR141%2C160_&refRID=0AJESWPX5T13290YEE4J

This is the Cuisinart one we bought:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/16696/Cuisinar...nal-Kettle

(Had no hassles of  the 'windows' leaking water).

[ppppenguin]

Don't forget that Sale of Good Act gives you some rights up to 6 years from purchase. You probably could have got it repaired for nothing if you'd pushed the retailer and had proof of purchase.

My kettle is a very ordinary Russell Hobbs white jug with sight glasses. It works perfectly, is pretty quiet when boiling and cost under £30. Just needs an occasional descale. I have a suspicion that having a conventional exposed element is better (quieter?) than the flat plate ones you often see. Though I have no real evidence.